Reccomend me a NAS Server (4-Bay)

[s0me0nesmind1]

Complete newbie to NAS, looking to get my feet wet.

Just bought 4x 8TB Western Digital Red drives - and I'm looking to quickly buy a NAS server to dump them into.

For guidance, this is strictly a file server to be used at home to organize photos across a large number of systems - and also have the security of a RAID incase one of the drives craps out.

Any recommendations? I'm fine with paying extra for some nice features, presuming they are useful to me. I'm also looking to ensure that the drive isn't susceptible to ransomware - or that it at least has a backup if it were to occur.

So far I'm seeing lots of recommendations for the Synology DS918+

 

[ch33zw1z]

That's getting good reviews. As always, backups would be to external disks, another Nas, and/or a cloud service. Not sure how you're going to RAID, it depends on how much storage you want to be left with.

Raid 5 would give you 24TB, tolerates 1 disk failure

Raid 10 would give you 16tb, tolerates 2 disk failures, not on same side of the mirror.

Raid 6 would give you 16tb, tolerates 2 disk failures.

I typically write down or record each disks information when setting it up. So it's easier to identify which disk is which during a failure scenario.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The DS918+ is probably overkill. Get a 418j or something.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

That's getting good reviews. As always, backups would be to external disks, another Nas, and/or a cloud service. Not sure how you're going to RAID, it depends on how much storage you want to be left with.

Raid 5 would give you 24TB, tolerates 1 disk failure

Raid 10 would give you 16tb, tolerates 2 disk failures, not on same side of the mirror.

Raid 6 would give you 16tb, tolerates 2 disk failures.

I typically write down or record each disks information when setting it up. So it's easier to identify which disk is which during a failure scenario.

I'm likely to do a Raid 5, I feel like I can quickly supply a subsequent disk to replace it in ample time?

My biggest worry is with backups... The NAS IS essentially the backup for all data. Ultimately, what is suggested as far as a backup for the NAS? Another NAS?

Obviously getting 4 more 8TB drives just to backup the previous 4 doesn't seem too smart - but at the same time obviously you want to be safe with backups, so I'm not sure what I should go with here.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

The DS918+ is probably overkill. Get a 418j or something.

My usage might seem subtle - I'm ultimately looking to utilize this as my main storage device for all my other devices, as well as my main backup device.... On top of that, I want it to be my main streaming device for my Plex Media Server. Does that sound small enough scale to not need the DS918?

What would you say make up the price difference between the two - given that there most definitely is a significant $200+ price difference between them that I can see - I'm just not aware of what specific features/hardware make up said differences.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

My usage might seem subtle - I'm ultimately looking to utilize this as my main storage device for all my other devices, as well as my main backup device.... On top of that, I want it to be my main streaming device for my Plex Media Server. Does that sound small enough scale to not need the DS918?

What would you say make up the price difference between the two - given that there most definitely is a significant $200+ price difference between them that I can see - I'm just not aware of what specific features/hardware make up said differences.

When you throw Plex transcoding into the mix, it's actually the opposite problem - the DS918 isn't really beefy enough.

The Plex site has a NAS compatibility list. The closest match in the list to the 918 is the 916 (slightly older model, but similar-spec CPU.)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...-Ac4oOLPRtCkgUxU0jdj3tmMPc/edit#gid=314388488

*May struggle with some high bitrate HD media

So basically it'll work for a single stream, jitter on a blu-ray rip, and multiple users/clients will break the poor thing. Maybe that's good enough for you - personally, I like to have some spare CPU cycles - but if you're doing multiple clients or lots of high-bitrate HD (or, god help you, 4k) you'll probably want to either:

1) Build a proper server
2) Buy a proper server
3) Buy a NAS (almost any will do) and use a different computer* to stream/transcode.

*an i3 NUC would work alright.

#2 is actually probably your best option, price-wise and performance-per-dollar-wise. $400 for essentially a large-ish 4-bay NAS with a $200 CPU and 8GB of RAM. (Not hot-swap though.) How handy are you with Linux?

 

[mindless1]

I call shens. 4 x 8TB photos across a large # of systems in a home environment.

No matter how much you try to contrive a scenario, no.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I'm likely to do a Raid 5, I feel like I can quickly supply a subsequent disk to replace it in ample time?

My biggest worry is with backups... The NAS IS essentially the backup for all data. Ultimately, what is suggested as far as a backup for the NAS? Another NAS?

Obviously getting 4 more 8TB drives just to backup the previous 4 doesn't seem too smart - but at the same time obviously you want to be safe with backups, so I'm not sure what I should go with here.

My personal xp is to keep a spare at the ready, purchased around the same time as the production drives.

Backups - needs to be offline if possible, even if it's to another Nas. But this is something that, in the end, will be based on what you're comfortable with.

Another Nas, whether always on or not, big enough to match your current one

USB enclosures. Big enough to store the data that you deem critical enough. Just because you're building a Nas with 16-24tb of storage, doesn't necessarily mean you have that much data to backup. This is what I would do.

Plex - looks like it's being covered. Plex changes things white a bit. It really depends on the usage. Transcoding? Will push it on Blu Ray with a nas. I prefer to store digital files in a container and codec that the client can read, so no transcoding necessary., Such as .move or .M4v with .h264 codec. I use Roku mainly, and it reads these files and codec natively

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I call shens. 4 x 8TB photos across a large # of systems in a home environment.

No matter how much you try to contrive a scenario, no.

It obviously for porn. Maintain the polite fiction.

 

[mindless1]

Heh, I'm trying to picture a large # of people concurrently fapping but that's not working either.

 

[Ranulf]

Complete newbie to NAS, looking to get my feet wet.

Just bought 4x 8TB Western Digital Red drives - and I'm looking to quickly buy a NAS server to dump them into.

I agree with Dave's advice earlier in the thread but if what you said quoted above is your #1 requirement, go buy a Synology or Qnap at the $500+ level and leave it at that. From my experiences there is just no comparison for an easy near turn key setup for a basic backup system. The 918 or equivalent machine will be able to dip your feet into media streaming a little bit if you want the option. Later on if you decide you want a serious media machine/htpc/server build that seperately with an i3 or better in it. Far easier to build an htpc and deal with its software/OS than putting that all in a NAS, especially if your number one priority is backup of important files/photos etc..

An off the shelf all in one NAS you might look at the newer QNAP machines with ryzen processors but those are $1500+.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It obviously for porn. Maintain the polite fiction.

n00b, it's for my vast arrays of Linux distros. duh.

Also, my 4x 8TB drives just arrived today, but I'm going on vacation for the next week. I'm contemplating ordering the Synology 918....

Here is the deal, we don't have 1080p 60" LCD screens in my house. I'm fine with streaming 720p (or less) for the shows I watch on a crappy old 42" plasma that is in our living room. So it DOES sound like this should be adequate for what I'm looking for, no?

I can upgrade to a full on rig that is $1200+ AFTER I invest in hardware (TV, sound system) that can adequately utilize the media. Correct me if I'm wrong here...

I call shens. 4 x 8TB photos across a large # of systems in a home environment.

No matter how much you try to contrive a scenario, no.

Also just to clarify... it's photos, TV, movies, music, old data files, backup programs, etc... Currently I have roughly 8TB filled in my current rig already, which doesn't include my wife's stuff.

Oh and porn. Can't forget about the porn.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Here is the deal, we don't have 1080p 60" LCD screens in my house. I'm fine with streaming 720p (or less) for the shows I watch on a crappy old 42" plasma that is in our living room. So it DOES sound like this should be adequate for what I'm looking for, no?

I can upgrade to a full on rig that is $1200+ AFTER I invest in hardware (TV, sound system) that can adequately utilize the media. Correct me if I'm wrong here...

You're not wrong. Excelsior!

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

You're not wrong. Excelsior!

Thank you for the clarification, I appreciate all the help from everyone in this thread.

Maybe when I stop working ridiculous hour weeks and traveling for work I'll invest more in home movie entertainment, but until then... if our plasma shit TV isn't broke then I have no obligation to fix it. Especially when all I do is watch political TV comedy and a couple other small shows on crappy TV.

 

[Homerboy]

In a lot of cases, especially if you plan on running Plex with multi transcodes, your best bet is to pick up an on Dell/HP server off ebay or even Amazon. you can find some INCREDIBLE deals on there for hardware.

And you can run unRaid on it making it a damned nice and redundant server .

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Alright folks, it's update time.

I ended up going with the Synology DS918+. I can definitely say so far I'm liking this bad boy. At some point I plan to upgrade the memory. Also, 1 of my 4 8tb drives arrived DOA, so I am currently RMAing that. However, with the Synology RAID system, it seems like it won't be an issue for me to add it at a later date when the replacement actually comes in.

So I have a number of Questions I can really use some help with:

First and foremost, I am trying to transfer my files - and holy crap it seems incredibly slow @ 5mb/s and that is the MAX when I plug my external hard drive into the USB 3.0 port of the NAS. Am I missing something? Even transfering these over the network should be faster... So please tell me I'm missing something here! Second is related - and that is accessing these files. It just seems kinda cumbersome to go through the web interface and trying to directly open files. Again, perhaps I'm missing something, because I was kinda under the impression that I could readily access files on the NAS, but it seems more like if it is not local than it isn't likely to be easy.

Third is backups. I'm thinking that my best bet is to get a semi-fat backup USB drive that is always connected that automatically syncs my crucial data to it on a nightly basis. Does that sound right? if so what software package do you recommend that is compatible with Synology? Similarly, I'm also looking for ways to migrate data TO the NAS automatically - what is recommended for that?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Files on the NAS should be accessible through the normal method. (Mounting the shared volume from the NAS as a network drive in Windows.) You definitely shouldn't need to go through a web interface.

To migrate data to the NAS automatically, use Robocopy. To back up data on the NAS, usually one uses a second NAS. But if you really just have a small amount of data (say, a few tax returns and some Very Important Baby Pictures™) cloud storage is usually the best bet. I think there's a Cloud Sync option in Synology, if not, there's probably a Dropbox plugin or something.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Files on the NAS should be accessible through the normal method. (Mounting the shared volume from the NAS as a network drive in Windows.) You definitely shouldn't need to go through a web interface.

To migrate data to the NAS automatically, use Robocopy. To back up data on the NAS, usually one uses a second NAS. But if you really just have a small amount of data (say, a few tax returns and some Very Important Baby Pictures) cloud storage is usually the best bet. I think there's a Cloud Sync option in Synology, if not, there's probably a Dropbox plugin or something.

Interesting. I just figured a USB 3.o connection would transfer faster over mounted network drives.

Do you have any other recommended features or plugins that I should be getting to know better and using?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Interesting. I just figured a USB 3.0 connection would transfer faster over mounted network drives

Well, sometimes, yes, but the whole point of the NAS is to provide mounted network drives.

On a NAS, USB connectivity is usually used to migrate existing backups (external HDs) to a new NAS, or to back up the NAS to an HD.

I don't know why you're getting such slow speeds via that method. That's weird, but not the weirdest thing I've ever seen a USB drive do.

Do you have any other recommended features or plugins that I should be getting to know better and using?

Sorry, no.